Antonetti wants Europe reward

Lille boss Frederic Antonetti is still hoping to qualify for the Europa League, despite losing the Coupe de la Ligue final to Paris Saint-Germain on Saturday.

The Ligue 1 champions beat Les Dogues 2-1 at the weekend to move within one game of a treble-winning season as they face Marseille in the Coupe de France final next month.

Antonetti's side played out to a goalless draw with Angers on Wednesday night, which put them four points off the top-four in sixth spot with three matches remaining in the season.

The Corsican is desperate not to give any ground in the table and remains hopeful it will be enough to get them into Europe, should PSG win both domestic cups.

"We had a tough start, but I expected that after the final," Antonetti told the Ligue 1 website after the match.

"But we got into it after 20 minutes and in the second half, there was only one team playing in their opponents' half. I don't remember them troubling us at all.

"Playing a match three days after a final… well, I say it with a smile, but high intensity, emotional matches like the final use up a lot of energy.

"I'm disappointed for the players; I would have liked them to be rewarded for their efforts. This result leaves us trailing a bit behind fourth and fifth, but they will be playing each other [in Week 37].

"Saturday's match in Lorient will be tough. We'll try to recover and take a maximum of points from our last three matches to see if we can hang onto sixth place and hope it will get us into Europe. I'd love it if we were rewarded with a spot in Europe."